MOTHER: Yes, that is where we find Taste at home. Sometimes when he has his own way, his dress becomes a dirty yellow or brown color, and if the master finds himself quite ill, he sends for a doctor, who comes, and about the first thing he does is to ask the tongue to step outside a moment, and as soon as the wise man looks at its dress, he knows whether Taste has been doing his duty or not. PERCY: But what is his duty? MOTHER: To tell the master what is good to build and mend the body, and to help him enjoy his food. If some good whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, or some fresh fruit passes the guards, Taste rolls it over and over and sends word to the master through some of the little telephone wires: “This is very good. I think we will have more of this.” Then the servants in the kitchen are pleased, and all goes well. You have heard that “Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, Eating a Christmas pie,” but I have read of another boy, who bore the same name, and this is what is said of him:— “Little Jack Horner Sat in a corner, Eating a morsel of nice brown-bread. ‘Have some pie or some cake?’ ‘Nay, not I,’ with a shake And a toss of his wise little head; ‘For this bread will make bone, And teeth white as a stone, That neither grow soft nor decay; But rich cake and rich pie Sure will break by and by My good health, and that never will pay.’” HELEN: But does Taste not ask for more than the body needs sometimes? MOTHER: Yes, very often; and that is one of the times when he needs a firm master. At other times he gets in such a hurry that he lets the food go down to the kitchen before it is half ready. [Illustration: WHETHER THEREFORE YE EAT OR DRINK OR WHATSOEVER YE DO, DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD. 1 COR. 10:31] ELMER: But does Taste ever want things which are not good for the body? MOTHER: Yes, many, many times. He coaxes so hard that I have seen some boys and girls even cry for that which would make them ill. If given a good piece of bread, they wanted pie or cake or some other hurtful thing. One thing I must tell you about Taste: If he has nothing at all given him when he gets the sulks, after a while he is very well pleased to get even plain food, and as he rolls it over and over, he says by his actions, “It tastes much better than I thought it did.” AMY: A lady once asked me if I had a sugar tooth, mother. What did she mean? MOTHER: When one’s taste calls for a great many sweet things, people sometimes say of such a person that they have a “sugar tooth,” but it is Taste, and not the teeth, who wants to be pleased that way. Candies, lollies, and sweet foods are bad for the teeth as well as the stomach; but Taste often begs for them, even though they do harm in the body. He sometimes learns to like what he dislikes very much at first, so you see it is the master’s duty to give him only that which he knows is best.